Double Dragon: New Wave

Double Dragon: New Wave would be an action beat-'em-up for all current consoles, and a modern take on the arcade and NES classic, Double Dragon.

Double Dragon, despite its simplicity, is my favorite beat-'em-up game so far, but I found it to be a shame that it got so few sequels. I have a bit of a creative soft spot for cool games that don't spawn more, equally interesting sequels, so I decided to address it in my own way by writing up this idea - an idea about a new generation of street fighters.

Contents

Story

The game takes place in a city where a new crime gang, the Osoruma, has just started becoming active. However, authorities as well as the other people around don't seem to be noticing them enough, so to make an impression, they decide to capture the mayor and demand a ransom in exchange for returning him alive.

The police can find no way to get to the gang's leader, Zakahn, who is holding the mayor, so a local group of troublemakers, led by the famed Billy Lee's son, Nathan, decide to rescue the mayor to make their own impression on the city, and show everyone that you don't have to be everybody's big hero to make a difference. And so, they go on their own mission to save the mayor and deal out some hardcore justice to the Osoruma.

Ending

After forcing their way through the city, Nate Lee and his friends make it to city hall, where they confront Zakahn. However, Zakahn is hiding in the mayor's office, where the mayor himself is being held. Once it becomes clear that Nate is going to make his way into the hall, Zakahn gives an order to "take off," and it is then revealed that the building has been modified to fly!

City hall begins to lift off the ground, but the five heroes barely manage to get up to the door before it flies out of reach. They proceed to make their way up to the mayor's office to confront Zakahn, but Zakahn takes off for another room. They end up in a large rotunda, and before they can even react, Zakahn breaks the lights and vanishes. This leaves them to use whatever vision they get from the flickering lights to keep track of Zakahn and attack him when the opportunity presents itself.

Finding his approach fruitless, Zakahn flees to another room for a final showdown, backed up by a group of his other men. Eventually, the heroes manage to knock out Zakahn, find the controls for the flying apparatus, and set it to automatically land. When they get out, Zakahn is taken into federal custody, and the mayor thanks Nate and his band of fighters, after which Nate simply slips away and returns to his garage.

Gameplay

Double Dragon: New Wave would work in much the same way as the previous titles, with punches, kicks, elbows, jumps, jump kicks, and throws. This title, though, would feature an entire new set of moves, like low kicks, low punches, jumping punches, and more. This would work because you could move up, down, and around the environment through the use of analog sticks, and not just D-Pads, but also because there are more buttons on modern controllers that allow for more complex controls, should the player want to use them.

The graphics of this game would be much improved over the original title, looking a lot like those in Super Smash Bros. 4 or the recent remake, Double Dragon Neon. The animations would be smooth and quick, but movement around the screen would also be more realistic, and would adjust to different directions. The sprites would also have very well-defined shadows, so that it would be easy for the player to tell when they're in front of an enemy and are able to strike.

If two people are playing at the same time, and one of them falls, then the other player will get another life so that the mission can have roughly the same chances of being completed. You can pick from five players, three boys and two girls, all with different attributes that would allow you to tailor your playstyle.

The levels would also vary; now, make no mistake, the same great environments of the series would be in this title as well, but there will also be the need to battle across buildings and even skyscrapers, and you'll also have the need to go through buildings, especially in the later levels. There would even be levels where you have to fight on a train and a boat.

Modes of Play

Story Mode

In story mode, two people could play through missions at the same time (I would have allowed more, but otherwise it wouldn't be DOUBLE dragon). Two players could pick characters and battle through 12 missions on their quest to save the mayor from the Osoruma.

Duel Mode

In this mode, four players could battle each other in teams or against each other, a lot like in Castle Crashers. It would have 5 stages to fight on at first, with 5 others unlocked through fulfilling certain requirements in story mode, making a total of 10.

Survival

Survival mode would allow up to four players to take on challenges of fighting wave after wave of enemies. Endless survival would be a way of playing for glory and bragging rights. This mode would also help you to perfect your technique, which might come in useful for the later levels.

Characters

Nathan "Nate" Lee - The son of Billy Lee and his girlfriend Marian, Nate is a disgruntled kid of the city streets who has a strong sense of justice, but is always getting himself into a fight. He is understandably always trying to live independently of his father's legacy.

Brenda "Bell" Cash - A resentful but intelligent young girl who was born to wealthy parents, but decided to run away because she didn't want to deal with the burden of being rich. She chose to fend for herself in the world, and took on the responsibility of defending innocents from crime.

Samuel "Sue" Walker - A husky, young, powerful boxer with an unfortunate nickname that stuck with him from first grade. He's Nate's only close friend, as they are both typically reserved and outcast. Still, Sue is more outgoing towards friends.

Kathy "Kicks" Menendez - A kickboxing expert eagerly looking to prove herself to the world by going after the leader of the Osoruma to challenge him one-on-one, until she meets Sue, who accepts her into the group.

Sheldon "Dusk" Rand - A quiet, eclectic martial artist who joins up to help Nate and his friends once in a while up until later in the game, where he joins in permanently. People often underestimate him because of his real name and plain appearance, but he is extremely wiry and agile, a lad of few words, and a force to be reckoned with. He's the one who can best compete with Nate.